Households and communities in the Pacific islands are increasingly likely to have some of their most productive members regularly absent due to growing opportunities for seasonal work abroad. If these absences are costly for the family left behind, the net development benefits of seasonal migration will be less than what they appear from remittances and repatriated foreign earnings, and there might be a role for government policies in host and source countries to mitigate some of the effects of absence.

Authors: Halahingano Rohorua, John Gibson, David McKenzie and Pilar Garcia Martinez

Publication: Pacific Economic Bulletin

Date: October 2009